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Israeli public opinion now views Türkiye as the second "most threatening country" to Israel's 'existence', ranking just behind Iran, according to a new poll by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).
The December 2025 Israeli Society Index asked respondents to rank eight neighboring countries according to the level of threat they pose to Israel.
Iran was ranked as the greatest threat, followed by Türkiye in second place and Lebanon in third. Qatar ranked fourth, Syria fifth, Yemen sixth, Egypt seventh, and Saudi Arabia last as the least threatening.
The survey was conducted between Dec. 1-4, 2025, with 634 Jewish respondents via an internet panel and 200 Arab respondents through the Afkar polling company.
Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, 67% of the Israeli public expressed confidence that Trump will "do the right thing" regarding U.S.-Israel relations, according to the Israeli media report citing the poll.
Among the Jewish public, the figure is even higher at 70%.
The poll found that public concern about Iran has returned to elevated levels.
31% of the public now believes Iran is "to a large extent" an existential threat to Israel, compared to only 16% who thought so in the days following "Operation Rising Lion," Israel's June 2025 strikes on Iran.
Additionally, 28% now think the results of that operation were "less good" than they previously believed, while 24% say the results were actually "better" than expected.
The full threat ranking from the survey:
More than half of Israelis (52%) believe Israel's international standing is bad — 22% said "very bad" and 30% said "fairly bad."
A quarter of Israelis (25%) consider Israel's international position "moderate," while only about one-fifth (21%) believe Israel's standing in the international community is good.
There was consensus between Jewish and Arab respondents on this assessment.
Perception of Israel's international standing is heavily influenced by political views.
The further respondents are on the ideological scale from right to left, the higher the proportion who believe Israel's situation in the world is bad.
Among those who identify as leftists, 64% responded that Israel's situation is "very bad."
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